Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg

168 Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	221,300 (2019)
Electorate	171,886 (2021)
Major settlements	Bad Hersfeld Eschwege Witzenhausen
Area	2,122.6 km2
Current electoral district
Created	2002
Party	CDU
Member	Wilhelm Gebhard
Elected	2025

Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 168. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising the Werra-Meißner-Kreis and Hersfeld-Rotenburg districts.

Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg was created for the 2002 federal election. From 2002 to 2025, it has been represented by Michael Roth of the Social Democratic Party (SPD). Since 2025 it is been represented by Wilhelm Gebhard of the CDU.

Geography

Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the Werra-Meißner-Kreis and Hersfeld-Rotenburg districts.

History

Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg was created in 2002 and contained parts of the abolished constituencies of Hersfeld and Werra-Meißner. In the 2002 election, it was named Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld. It acquired its current name in the 2005 election. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was constituency 171 in the numbering system. In the 2009 election, it was number 170. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 169. From the 2025 election, it has been number 168. Its borders have not changed since its creation.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
2002	171	Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld	Werra-Meißner-Kreis district Hersfeld-Rotenburg district
2005		Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
2009	170
2013	169
2017
2021
2025	168

Members

The constituency has been represented by Michael Roth of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since its creation.

Election		Member	Party	%
	2002	Michael Roth	SPD	54.9
	2005			51.7
	2009			40.4
	2013			43.1
	2017			41.2
	2021			43.7
	2025	Wilhelm Gebhard	CDU	32.2

Election results

2025 election

Federal election (2025): Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Wilhelm Gebhard		44,170	32.2	5.5	38,981	28.4	6.8
	AfD	Gerhard Schenk		30,924	22.6	11.6	31,856	23.2	11.7
	SPD	Daniel Iliev		38,010	27.8	15.9	30,447	22.3	15.5
	Greens	Awet Tesfaiesus		7,357	5.4	0.9	9,947	7.3	1.7
	Left	Silvia Hable		7,245	5.3	2.3	8,575	6.3	2.7
	BSW						5,724	4.2	New
	FDP	Alexander Bartholomäus		3,326	2.4	3.1	5,247	3.8	6.1
	FW	Anja Zilch		3,961	2.9	0.4	2,779	2.0	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,743	1.3	0.1
	Volt	Phil Rimbach		1,367	1.0	New	954	0.7	0.5
	Independent	Benjamin Jäger		602	0.4	New
	PARTEI						594	0.4	0.3
	BD						227	0.2	New
	Humanists						81	0.1	0.0
	MLPD						26	<0.1	0.0
Informal votes				1,651			1,432
Total valid votes				136,962			137,181
Turnout				138,613	82.6	6.5
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	6,160	4.4	N/A

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Y Michael Roth		56,383	43.7	2.5	48,579	37.7	5.0
	CDU	Wilhelm Gebhard		34,527	26.8	3.2	27,867	21.6	7.8
	AfD	Gerhard Schenk		14,204	11.0	1.5	14,899	11.5	1.6
	Greens	Awet Tesfaiesus		8,032	6.2	2.2	11,595	9.0	3.0
	FDP	Jorias Bach		7,135	5.5	0.5	12,807	9.9	1.5
	Left	Sabine Leidig		3,890	3.0	2.5	4,524	3.5	3.2
	FW	Rainer Janisch		3,160	2.4	0.6	2,734	2.1	1.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,776	1.4	0.6
	dieBasis	Beate Gerke		1,430	1.1		1,344	1.0
	PARTEI						988	0.8	0.1
	Pirates						343	0.3	0.1
	Volt						313	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						210	0.2
	Bündnis C						204	0.2
	NPD						201	0.2	0.3
	Team Todenhöfer						198	0.2
	ÖDP						121	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis 21	Berthold Hartmann		172	0.1		90	0.1
	Independent	Heidi Schmidt		107	0.1
	Humanists						81	0.1
	V-Partei3						71	0.1	0.1
	MLPD						35	0.0	0.0
	DKP						24	0.0	0.0
	LKR						22	0.0
Informal votes				1,865			1,879
Total valid votes				129,040			129,026
Turnout				130,905	76.2	0.2
	SPD hold		Majority	21,856	16.9	5.7

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Y Michael Roth		54,033	41.2	1.9	42,737	32.6	4.3
	CDU	Timo Lübeck		39,302	29.9	10.6	38,531	29.4	6.6
	AfD	Stefan Wild		16,411	12.5		17,173	13.1	7.5
	Left	Sabine Leidig		7,281	5.5	0.2	8,746	6.7	0.7
	FDP	Manfred Lister		6,594	5.0	3.0	11,096	8.5	4.5
	Greens	Martina Selzer		5,236	4.0	1.0	7,843	6.0	1.0
	FW	Emmanuel Anyangwe Ngassa		2,375	1.8		1,229	0.9	0.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,031	0.8
	PARTEI						854	0.7	0.2
	NPD						608	0.5	1.1
	Pirates						430	0.3	1.2
	DM						210	0.2
	BGE						202	0.2
	V-Partei³						147	0.1
	ÖDP						135	0.1
	MLPD						35	0.0	0.0
	DKP						33	0.0
	BüSo						27	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,494			2,659
Total valid votes				131,232			131,067
Turnout				133,726	76.0	3.0
	SPD hold		Majority	14,731	11.3	8.7

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Y Michael Roth		54,630	43.1	2.7	46,913	36.9	2.5
	CDU	Helmut Heiderich		51,386	40.5	5.9	45,872	36.0	5.8
	Left	Johanna Scheringer-Wright		7,277	5.7	2.7	7,584	6.0	3.8
	Greens	Armin Jung		6,333	5.0	0.7	8,868	7.0	1.1
	AfD						7,096	5.6
	FDP	Manfred Lister		2,513	2.0	7.3	5,014	3.9	9.3
	NPD	Gisela Lück		2,392	1.9	0.3	2,013	1.6	0.1
	Pirates	Michael Balke		2,283	1.8		1,954	1.5	0.1
	FW						961	0.8
	PARTEI						521	0.4
	REP						170	0.1	0.2
	PRO						136	0.1
	BüSo						55	0.0	0.1
	SGP						55	0.0
	MLPD						41	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,632			4,193
Total valid votes				126,814			127,253
Turnout				131,446	72.9	0.7
	SPD hold		Majority	3,244	2.6	3.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Werra-Meißner – Hersfeld-Rotenburg
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	SPD	Y Michael Roth		53,275	40.4	11.4	45,401	34.4	10.9
	CDU	Helmut Heiderich		45,711	34.6	0.3	39,966	30.3	0.4
	FDP	Thomas Fehling		12,290	9.3	5.4	17,526	13.3	4.5
	Left	Mareike Zingsem		11,080	8.4	3.9	12,927	9.8	3.9
	Greens	Philipp Schmagold		7,530	5.7	2.8	10,679	8.1	1.4
	Pirates						1,948	1.5
	NPD	Konrad Bentz		2,128	1.6	0.0	1,939	1.5	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,004	0.8	0.1
	REP						422	0.3	0.3
	BüSo						155	0.1	0.0
	DVU						95	0.1
	MLPD						35	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,713			3,630
Total valid votes				132,014			132,097
Turnout				135,727	73.6	5.5
	SPD hold		Majority	7,564	5.8	11.6